WEST Bromwich Albion and Leicester City are gearing up for a summer battle to sign the £2.5million-rated Swindon Town striker Simon Cox.

Both clubs are keeping tabs on the 21-year-old who has been in prolific form this season – including scoring a hat-trick in front of Albion assistant manager Mark Venus at Northampton Town last month.

Leicester will move to sign him if they clinch promotion back to the Championship while Albion are looking at a number of targets as they struggle to retain their Premier League status.

Whichever division Albion are in next season, manager Tony Mowbray faces problems in attack. His current first choice strikers, Jay Simpson and Marc Antoine-Fortune, are on-loan and there is no guarantee either of them will stay at the club beyond next month.